Families welcome troops home from Afghanistan

LOS ALAMITOS - Megan Montoyo, 22, stood at the front of the crowd Wednesday with her father-in-law and sister waiting for her husband, National Guardsman Emmanuel Montoyo, to arrive home from Afghanistan.

"I'm really anxious," the Woodland Hills resident said.

Montoyo and her husband, who began dating in high school in Canoga Park, married more than a year ago before he left for Afghanistan exactly one year ago. Though she didn't have extravagant plans with her husband upon his arrival, Montoyo was very excited to be reunited with him.

"We're just all going to go home," Montoyo said.

On the one-year anniversary of their deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, 130 National Guardsman from the California National Guard's 756th Transportation Company, were welcomed by their families at Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos.

Though the troops were scheduled to arrive on two flights just before 10 a.m., family members from all over Southern California gathered at the training base at least an hour before holding handmade signs and wearing painted T-shirts to celebrate their safe return home.

Jackie Collins, the unit's Family Readiness Group Lead Coordinator, said there were originally 170 National Guardsman deployed out of Lancaster on Aug. 8 last year. Though a majority of them arrived home Wednesday morning, some National Guardsmen weren't coming home due to their medical condition.

Collins' husband is also in the National Guard unit that arrived - so she knows exactly what it felt like to be separated from him for so long. This was the Brea resident's third time reuniting with her husband after he was assigned to Korea, Iraq and, most recently, Afghanistan.

"It's not something you get used to, ever," Collins said.

Through the Family Readiness Group, Collins volunteered to help military families get through everything from divorce to fixing their water heaters.

She said it has been difficult for her to help families through their hard times while her husband was also gone.

"The day has finally come, so we can get our lives back together," Collins said.

The 170 National Guardsmen of the 756th provided logistical support by moving supplies, personnel and equipment throughout Afghanistan. They conducted more than 420 convoys, escorted 952 Afghan trucks and transported more than 4,000 pieces of cargo and 11,500 personnel throughout the Kabul region, according to the California National Guard.

During the 756th's tour, Sgt. Carlo F. Eugenio was killed Oct. 26 when explosives from a suicide vehicle detonated near his truck while he was on mission in Kabul. He was the first California National Guard member to be killed as a direct result of enemy action in Afghanistan and one of four to die in service there, according to guard officials.

More than 2,900 California National Guardsmen have been deployed in support of operations in Afghanistan since 9-11, officials said.

"I'm just glad that he's safe," Obermoelle said. "Hopefully he'll never have to go back to Afghanistan."

Anderson, a resident of Santa Maria, was working at Albertsons before he left for Afghanistan with the California National Guard. National Guardsmen were allowed a two-week break to come home during their year-long assignment. Obermoelle said Anderson returned home on break just before Christmas.

"We were sorry to see him go, but we're proud to see him serve our country," he said.

San Bernardino resident Spc. Tyrell Prewett, 22, was working as a cook at In-N-Out Burger before he was deployed to Afghanistan.

He was greeted by his 2-month-old daughter, Ellie, for the first time when he arrived off the plane. Also there was his mom, Darla, 48, and sister Shannon, 19.

He surprised his daughter with a teddy bear and cradled her as she cried.